Ukraine

Allies of Ukraine gathered in Brussels on Wednesday to strengthen its anti-aircraft defense, “the priority” after a series of massive Russian strikes on several cities in the country, where fighting continues in the South and East. The Ukrainians “urgently need” anti-aircraft defenses to deal with indiscriminate bombardment from Russia, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged at the start of a meeting of Alliance defense ministers. “Some Allies have provided such defense systems,” he added. But Ukrainians need more. »

Ukraine’s allies are hesitant to supply Ukraine with their most advanced systems because they have limited quantities of them themselves, diplomats acknowledge. German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht nevertheless confirmed on her arrival that a first German defense system of the latest generation Iris-T had been delivered to Ukraine. “Next year, three more of these air defense systems will follow,” she added.

The United States has promised the NASAMS air defense system, the first two copies of which are due to arrive in Ukraine soon. They have promised six more, but their delivery may not occur for two to three years. For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for the creation of an anti-aircraft “shield” over Ukraine.

Sentence of the day

Ordinary Europeans are suffering. In one year, their electricity and gas bills have more than tripled. The population, as in the Middle Ages, began to stockpile wood for heating this winter. »
These are the words of Vladimir Putin who spoke this Wednesday at an energy forum in Moscow. The Russian president accused the G7 and the EU of “destroying” the global energy market by trying to cap the price of Russian oil and claimed that some Western politicians were thus destroying “the global market economy” and threatening ” the well-being of billions of people”.

The number of the day

  1. This is, on the southern front of Ukraine, the number of new localities reconquered, this Wednesday, by kyiv, according to the presidency. This advance in the Kherson region, one of the four which Moscow has claimed to be annexed, is the latest setback for the Russian army, which has been retreating in this area as in the North-East and East since the beginning of the month of September.

The trend of the day

The Kremlin has said it expects Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to make a concrete offer to Vladimir Putin to mediate over the conflict in Ukraine, as the two men meet in Kazakhstan on Thursday.

A member of NATO, Turkey, very dependent on Russian gas and oil, has endeavored since the Russian offensive of February 24 to maintain its relationship with Ukraine and Russia. Ankara thus played a key role in an exchange of prisoners in September between Russia and Ukraine as well as in the conclusion in July, under the aegis of the UN, of an agreement between the two countries allowing the export of Ukrainian cereals via the Black Sea and the Bosphorus.

Twice, in March, it also brought together Russian and Ukrainian representatives on its soil for negotiations which ultimately failed, with both sides blaming each other. Not to mention that Erdogan has met Putin three times in the past three months and speaks regularly with Volodymyr Zelensky. The Turkish president thus poses as a privileged mediator. Again on Tuesday, the head of Turkish diplomacy, Mevlut Cavusoglu, called on Russia and Ukraine for a ceasefire. “The sooner the better,” he said in a television interview.